


Still Waters Run Deep

by plapcat



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 15:04:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9187586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plapcat/pseuds/plapcat
Summary: Yuri opened his mouth to call out, ask a number of the questions on his mind (who are you? how did you get on this island? why do you have gills?) when the stranger turned with a grace Yuri found himself envious of and dove into the pool. The last thing the blond saw was a black tail, curving up in the air with a flick before silently disappearing into the water.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't know what prompted this, but. Here it is. The Merpeople AU literally no one asked for. Most of what I have planned for this comes from my own imagining of what merpeople are like, so it might not fit into any conventional ideas. I'm literally flying by the seat of my pants.
> 
> The only reason I aged Yuri up is because the legal age to drive in Russia is apparently 18. I can invent a new species all I want, but lord help me if I try to break a law in a foreign country.
> 
> Not beta'd. Whoops.

Yuri Plisetsky hadn’t been super excited to hear that his grandfather was moving. Nikolai was getting older, after all, and the process was sure to be long and hard. He expressed these worries to his grandfather over the phone one night, sitting in his tiny studio apartment after a long day of training.

“But, Yurochka, I have no need of this big house anymore.” In the background, Yuri could hear the sounds of things in motion; clearly, Nikolai was employing movers. “It gets lonely without you. It has been lonely these past few years.”

Yuri huffed out a breath and sat back, running a hand through his hair. “You could have just told me that. I would’ve moved back.”

“Nonsense.” His grandfather’s voice had grown some steel, a tone that gave no room for argument. “You belong in Saint Petersburg. That is where the coaches are, and that is where you must stay. The house I am moving to is not too far, anyway.”

Yuri straightened at that, a frown forming on his thin lips. “Where are you living, then?”

“About half an hour away from the heart of the city. You bought a car, yes? You can come visit.”

There was something else in his grandfather’s tone, though. A suggestion, or an offering. Nikolai had learned long ago to not offer Yuri favors, but rather leave hints here and there to the true motive of his actions. Yuri was too proud to accept handouts, but if he came to the decision on his own, nothing could stop him from accomplishing his goals.

“How many bedrooms are in this new house?”

Nikolai grunted, sounding satisfied. “Two.”

And Yuri let out a grunt of his own, rubbing his free hand across his face. Sure, moving would be equally tedious for him, but he had far less stuff than his grandfather. It would definitely be manageable. “You know, this apartment is pretty lonely. Maybe I’ll move back in with you.” On the other end, his grandfather laughed quietly, more of a chuckle than anything else.

“The house will be ready to be moved into in a month. Start packing up, Yurochka. I’m looking forward to living with you once more.”

 

* * *

 

It was a pain to cancel the lease on his apartment, but after some finagling—the lease was all verbal, cash up front, no questions asked—Yuri managed to get off with only having to pay for the following month. He managed to pack all his worldly possessions into his tiny car aside from his mattress, but Nikolai promised he would be bringing Yuri’s infinitely more comfortable one from his old home, so he parted with the new without much sorrow.

The house was… quaint, to say the least. After living in the center of Saint Petersburg, it was strange to go from the bustle and noise to nothing but peace. The house was a bit rundown, but the retired older man seemed to take that as a challenge to fix it up. Yuri was content to leave him to it. The commute to and from the ice rink was enough to keep him busy, and every evening when he came home, he collapsed on the couch until he was called for dinner.

His life picked up a regular rhythm, after that. Wake up at the crack of dawn (or sometimes earlier). Eat breakfast with his grandfather. Drive into the city. Skate until his legs felt like they were going to fall off. Drive home. Rest. Eat dinner with his grandfather. Go to bed. Rinse and repeat.

After several months of nothing but the same pattern, over and over, he began to grow weary of it all. It was all so _boring,_ he complained to his grandfather; it felt like there was nothing exciting happening anymore. Even Viktor’s antics in the rink couldn’t bring a spark to his life, and that had never failed to entertain him in the past.

“There’s a lake, you know,” Nikolai said one night as Yuri paused to breathe, cutting off the young man’s complaints. When silence reigned, he continued. “About half a mile north. Technically, the south eastern bank is my property.”

There were footsteps, and Yuri’s face appeared through the kitchen door. His mouth was twisted down in a displeased frown. “Why didn’t you _tell_ me sooner?”

“I forgot.” When Yuri gaped, Nikolai shrugged and continued. “The agent mentioned the lake once, and that was it. I assume it’s rather small, or unappealing, since he did not push it. He said that there should be a row boat tethered to a dock.”

Still, there was a glimmer in Yuri’s eye. It seemed like the promise of an adventure, no matter how disappointing an adventure it might be, was enough to bring some excitement back into his life. “I’m going tomorrow when I get back from practice,” he announced, and that was that.

The trek through the woods was long, and exactly what Yuri’s sore legs needed. His breath clouded with each heavy breath, a reminder that colder times were on their way and that he was terribly under-dressed for this weather. When he finally cleared the trees, gazing out before him, the first snow fell from the sky.

The lake was beautiful. Clearly, the agent hadn’t pushed it because his grandfather hadn’t expressed an interest. Yuri could barely see the opposite shore, it was so far in the distance, and even though there were snowflakes flurrying about, obscuring his vision, he could make out a central island. He made his way down to the shore, delighted to find that there was indeed a small dock with a rowboat attached. While he wouldn’t dare take it out in this weather—he was ballsy, not stupid—he made a mental note of it and promise to come back in the spring.

He stood there for a long time, watching as the snow gathered around him and just observing the world. It was quiet, allowing him some much-needed time to think and gather himself.

Eventually, he sneezed, breaking his illusion of peace. With a begrudging sigh, he turned away and started the long trek back to his home, promising to bring both a warmer coat and his skates the following day. Based on the temperature, the lake was set to freeze.

 

* * *

 

Over the course of the next few months, Yuri explored the lake in his free time. He never went too far out at once, just skating until the burn in his legs felt to be too much. He always carried emergency equipment with him, aware that he was alone on the ice without anyone to save him should he fall. The uneven surface took some getting used to, but before long, he was skimming along as if it was the controlled ice of the rink, performing simple jumps. He decided not to push himself with triples or quads, mindful of the fact that, despite his constant desire to _improve_ and _refine,_ he always came from long, grueling practices filled with Yakov and Lilia yelling at him nonstop.

So he would skate along, occasionally jumping and landing it with ease, as time ticked by. Before he knew it, the ice was thinning beneath his blades, until one March morning, he heard a faint cracking as he approached the lake. That was enough for him. His career was too much for him to risk a fall through the ice. He’d just turned nineteen, after all, and he felt like he was still climbing to his peak. A tumble into freezing cold water would put his plans on hold.

So he was left with prowling the shoreline, waiting for the day when the ice melted away and left him with nothing but water. He hadn’t forgotten the rowboat, and his mental promise to take it out. Despite having explored the rest of the lake, he’d left the island alone until this point. The shore was surrounded by reeds, making him nervous about the thickness of the ice.

After what felt like ages of waiting, the lake was fully clear. The sky was a startling shade of blue, and when Yuri pushed through the newly-grown underbrush to come to the shoreline, he heard birdsong.

Spring had officially arrived.

He could feel excitement rattling in his bones as he untied the rowboat, making sure to check for leaks before he set foot in it. While the temperature had warmed, it was still cold enough that he didn’t look forward to taking an unexpected swim. Once he was certain that it was safe, he pushed off, heading straight for the island.

The rowboat certainly took some getting used to. Normally, he exercised his arms little, focusing on his legs to make sure they could stand up to the hours of training he put them through. The burn was a nice change of pace, taking his mind off blisters he’d developed from the new pair of skates. Apparently, taking one’s skates out for an extra hour a day wore it out faster. Who knew?

At the island, the only thing he could find to tie his boat to was a lone pole, jutting out of the water next to the shore. It looked like there had once been a pier here as well, but time and disuse had seen it to ruin. Swiftly, Yuri moored the rowboat, carefully examining his knots to make sure it wouldn’t float away. Then he’d really be up shit creek without a paddle.

Once he was positive that his way home was secure, he jumped onto the shore and greedily explored. It was as if this was his own personal paradise, somewhere no one else had ever been, and he drank it down like he was dying of thirst. He’d seen the shore on his loops around the lake; that didn’t interest him. No, what he wanted to focus on was the interior.

All in all, the island itself was about a hundred feet, but there was dense foliage that meant it took him several minutes to get to the center. He was just pushing aside some brush, quietly cursing his luck to get caught in absolutely _every_ bramble there to ever exist, when he heard a gasp.

Immediately, his head shot up, eyes narrowing in quiet determination as he thought. No, it hadn’t been him; his breath had been too caught up in cursing to betray him like that. And it had definitely been a human noise, or at least a good mimic of one. Could there be someone else on the island? He doubted it. There hadn’t been another boat, or sign of disturbance on the ground. Frowning, he shoved the last of the bushes away and took a step forward into a clearing.

In the middle, there was a small pool of water, the way the surrounding rocks glimmered in the late afternoon sun absolutely picturesque. The water was moving, creating a quiet babbling noise he hadn’t heard until that point, and there were ferns decorating the edge to give it the illusion of a secluded grotto.

But Yuri noticed none of that. No, all of his attention was zeroed in on the figure sitting in the water, propped up on one of the shimmering rocks.

They were human, but also distinctly not. Dark hair topped startling dark eyes, split by a slim nose. Their lips were parted, definitely the source of the gasp, edges turned down gracefully. There were dark specks all across their cheeks, leading down to a pair of gills—gills? Yuri’s brain shrieked at him—and below that, their skin was covered with a translucent material of some kind.

Yuri opened his mouth to call out, ask a number of the questions on his mind (who are you? how did you get on this island? _why do you have gills?_ ) when the stranger turned with a grace Yuri found himself envious of and dove into the pool. The last thing the blond saw was a black tail, curving up in the air with a flick before silently disappearing into the water.

**Author's Note:**

> I promise that the next chapter will have more Otabek. Probably.
> 
> Let me know if you have any comments or critiques! I've got a lot of thoughts and no clue where I'm going, so. We'll see. ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ


End file.
